Payal Patel has just completed her Level 2 apprenticeship in health and social care, we caught up with her to ask her about her learning experience and how she has put her knowledge and skills into practice.
“Everything was helpful as I would always refer back to my work, checking if I was doing something right, plus I could refer back to assignments and get advice from my tutor. The medication unit, that really helped – there was so much detail in the unit. Where before I was getting confused, everything was suddenly much clearer and I was really able to put the theory into practice.
Now I can confidentially say I am able to do my job well and I want to progress my career with the Level 3 Apprenticeship.”
I am a domiciliary care worker where I go into clients homes and support them with anything such as companionship, personal care, medication, cleaning, meal preparation and just making sure they are happy and feel looked after.
I was a team leader at a supermarket before I started working in the health and social care sector, but I wasn’t happy in my job – it wasn’t me and I had no motivation to progress and then I discovered the care industry.
I realised I had the personality traits that it takes to be a carer – you need to have patience, understanding and compassion to do the job well.
I wanted to gain skills in my role and progress in the company, and I approached my then employer who suggested the NVQ. I chose this path as it meant I could be employed and simultaneously learn new skills.
Everything was helpful as I would always refer back to my work, checking if I was doing something right, plus I could refer back to assignments and get advice from my tutor. The medication unit, that really helped – there was so much detail in it. Where before I was getting confused, everything was suddenly much clearer and I was really able to put the theory into practice.
Now I can confidentially say I am able to do my job well and I want to progress my career with the Level 3 Apprenticeship.
When I first started I lacked confidence, and now I have gained in confidence and I want to continue learning after a short break!
The course itself I didn’t find challenging, but I found the medication unit to be the most interesting, reading up on it – and I completed further research around this topic.
When I first started my apprenticeship I was working for a different employer to where I am now, my first employer wasn’t hugely supportive but my current employer has been amazing getting everything moving forward.
Suzanne my tutor was also amazing – she did so well to get me through, do not let her go!
Yes, definitely. I want to go onto the next level. Doing the job and putting skills into practice really does help.
Interesting, knowledgeable, gaining experience, confidence building.
Helpful, available, positive, encouraging, amazing.
A lion as I was shy and not very confident before, and the lion represents my newfound confidence!
“Seeing Payal grow in confidence and applying the knowledge learnt to her care worker role has been really rewarding, and knowing that she wants to continue learning and progress her career is always great for a tutor to hear!”
Suzanne Marfleet, Teaching Assessor